Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Characteristic of or befitting a slattern.
  • adjective Slovenly; untidy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to a slattern; having the habits of a slattern; slovenly.
  • In a slovenly way.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Resembling a slattern; sluttish; negligent; dirty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Appropriate to or characteristic of a slattern.
  • adverb In a slatternly manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characteristic of or befitting a slut or slattern; used especially of women

Etymologies

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Examples

  • They are generally called blue-stockings, are described as slatternly in their dress and always as having their fingertips dabbled with ink.

    The Five of Hearts Patricia O'Toole 2008

  • They are generally called blue-stockings, are described as slatternly in their dress and always as having their fingertips dabbled with ink.

    The Five of Hearts Patricia O'Toole 2008

  • Superbly situated, magnificently endowed as to climate, the _chef-lieu_ of the Bouches du Rhône must be called a slatternly beauty; whilst embellishing herself, putting on her jewels and splendid attire, she has forgotten to wash her face and trim her hair!

    In the Heart of the Vosges And Other Sketches by a "Devious Traveller" Matilda Betham-Edwards 1877

  • Or Martin Honeysett's grisly depiction of a fat, slatternly woman watching TV while surrounded by a mess of ashtrays, empty beer cans and fast food boxes.

    Simon Hoggart's week: We won't be taken for a ride, cabbies 2011

  • Playing the malevolent, abrasive junkie single mother of a missing kidnap victim, a slatternly, slack-jawed racist, Ryan adopted a drunkard's waxen pallor, honked up the full braying working-class Boston accent and, in those seven minutes, ran a gamut of emotions, from sullen resentment to inappropriate levity and a final descent into abject sobbing – a magnificent shipwreck of a performance.

    Amy Ryan: the Isabelle Huppert of Hollywood 2011

  • All the life about him - the odors of stale vegetables and soapsuds, the slatternly form of his sister, and the jeering face of Mr. Higginbotham - was a dream.

    Chapter 11 2010

  • She was a large, stout woman, always dressed slatternly and always tired from the burdens of her flesh, her work, and her husband.

    Chapter 3 2010

  • Dominic Cooper is a fatuous rock star, and Jessica Barden is a wondrously funny teenager, and slatternly deus ex machina, who adores him.

    A Grownup Look at Lennon as a 'Boy' Joe Morgenstern 2010

  • He started to leave the room, tripping over a loose seam in the slatternly carpet.

    Chapter 3 2010

  • Martin went into the kitchen with a sinking heart, the image of her red face and slatternly form eating its way like acid into his brain.

    Chapter 5 2010

Comments

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  • ...so, with the enthusiastic help of two hitch-hikers stranded in the vicinity - a disgusting youth from Hilden and his long-haired, slatternly, languorous Hilda - he had to break into his own house.

    Nabokov, Ada, or Ardor

    June 5, 2008